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Tuesday, 8 August 2017

"Game of Thrones": How epic dragon battle was created [Video]

About 20 people were set ablaze at once for the epic dragon battle sequence which is one of the best battles yet on &#034;Game of Thrones.&#034;

From The Battle of the Bastards, Blackwater to Hardhome, "Game of Thrones" always gets it right with its battles.

Unlike the battle between Ramsay Bolton and Jon Snow in season six, two loved characters engaged in a tough battle in the last episode of the show, "The Spoils of War."

And just like Tyrion Lannister who watched the battle from afar, viewers were torn between taking sides with Daenerys or Jaimie Lannister.

The epic clash saw Daenerys unleash fire and dragon for the first time in Westeros; an action that got Twitter excited.

HBO has released a behind the scenes featurette that explains how the battle was created [the video can be watched below].

Speaking to EW, Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff explained what went in to bring the much talked about sequence to life.

"We wanted to make sure that the size of Drogon was reflected in the impact on the ground. He’s the size of a 747 this year. The cone of fire that comes out of his mouth is 30 feet in diameter."

"It was really different from, say, Daznak’s Pit, where he first shows up to save Daenerys from the Sons of the Harpy. There, you see him burn people and they’re half caught on fire, running around. This is a much larger dragon. When he unleashes his fire on the Lannisters, the people in the center of that cone of fire are carbonized almost immediately, like Pompeii."

"There’s almost nothing left of them. As you get progressively to the edges of the cone, people are partially on fire and cooking in the armor as they rush to the water. We really wanted to show the horror of what it was to be like to be on the ground during something like that."

"Burning a lot of stunt men was essential to that, in terms of both the scope and the humanity, as Jaime watches these guys die. In one particular shot, we burned 20 stuntmen completely for about 15 seconds, which is the most you can do. It’s a very long 15 seconds as they hold their breath."

According to the showrunners, about 63 stuntmen were burned for the sequence.

"I understand that is a record. I would refer you to Rowley Irlam, our stunt coordinator, for confirmation, but that’s what he said. In total in the sequence, I remember when we wrapped, there was a count of around 63 people burned.

"I also heard online someone say 73, but I remember 63 as the total number of people burned in the sequence. Yeah, I think that was essential to telling the story and the scope of what it was like to be in a dragon battle.

The episode was directed by a first time "Game of Thrones" director Matt Shakman, who is popular for "The Good Wife" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."